Interesting. I have seen small scale privatization of infrastructure and its is an expensive, bureaucratic mess, that ends up costing 3X more up front, and then 2X more on top of that to get it correct.

Interesting expose into the world of Julian Assange. This confirms my earlier conjecture that selective transparency was at play in 2016. Some of the logic behind supporting the GOP is questionable though. He complains that the GOP and Trump would goad a president Clinton into more invasions. So the solution is to give them the power? The other thing that struck me most about the stories is how often Assange attributes the worst motivations to his critics. Whether that is cynicism or projection is up for debate.

The first of those articles aligns with your take on things, I suspect.

I do wonder if the author is crediting the Trump administration with a little too much in the way of formulated ideological drive. So much of their approach seems like sheer and almost wilful incompetence to me.

But whatever, it was a good read, and the author is right to align Trump and Brexit in terms of their enabling drivers.

Of course. The prevalence of so many guns is why the US is the safest place on earth. More can only make it safer. Guns don't kill people, people do. Which is why if you replaced all the people with guns there would be no killing at all.

During a closed-door meeting with the House Intelligence Committee that lasted nearly four hours, Bannon refused to answer any questions beyond 25 that had been pre-screened by the White House, senior Republican and Democratic committee members said. Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee's top Democrat, suggested those questions were so narrowly drawn that they appeared intended to mislead lawmakers.

"There were questions along the lines of ‘Did you ever meet with X?’ And because the question had been written by the White House the answer was invariably ‘No,'" Schiff said. "When we asked the question, ‘Did you talk with ‘X?,' the answer was yes."

But when committee members asked for details, Bannon said the White House instructed him to invoke executive privilege on Trump's behalf. Executive privilege is a legal claim the president can use to protect conversations from scrutiny by other branches of government.

Can you look more guilty? "I'm totally innocent - no collusion! - just don't look at my tax returns or ask about Stormy ... but she's a 9 right?"

macbindle wrote:Of course. The prevalence of so many guns is why the US is the safest place on earth. More can only make it safer. Guns don't kill people, people do. Which is why if you replaced all the people with guns there would be no killing at all.

I don't think the number of people mobilized is that small. This means there are a significant number of Americans who espouse the idea that their "right" to have so many arms in circulation, is more civilized than your right to not be forced to defensive violence as the only recourse to coexistnce.

Indeed...we are falling into exactly what the NRA and gun makers want us to fall into..'it's dangerous out there folks, lots of bad people with guns..the ONLY ANSWER is a good person with a gun'.which is poppycock, of course. More guns=more violence..plus most of the hand gun deaths are at the hands of white americans...